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1909 Embossed Christmas Postcard, Santa Claus with Pipe, Slippers and Stocking in a Gold Bell, "Papa's Delight", Mailed to Hoytville, Ohio
DESCRIPTIONAn embossed and gilt vertical Christmas postcard. A large textured gold Christmas bell fills the card, with Santa Claus in an oval window, smoking a pipe and holding up a pair of slippers and a green plaid stocking. "A MERRY XMAS" in white across the top of the bell; a ribbon banner reads "PAPA'S DELIGHT". Embossed holly frames the bell, with a small winter landscape at upper right. Note: the current front scan is cut off at the bottom of the card. Please see the photos, which show the actual item.
Divided back. 1-cent green Franklin stamp with violet wavy-line cancel; violet datestamp H[OYTVILLE], O[HIO], DEC 23, 1909 (best reading; year slug struck upside down). Addressed in ink to Master Lloyd Wicoff (best reading), Hoytville, O., from "Lillian E."
HISTORICAL CONTEXTSanta with his pipe, slippers and stocking makes a homely Christmas-morning scene with crossover appeal for pipe and tobacciana collectors. The violet datestamp with its upside-down year is a small postal quirk. German printers dominated early postcard printing until the 1909 Payne-Aldrich Tariff and World War I; this card does not name its country of printing.
CONDITIONUsed. Bright colors and gold, with light rubbing on the high points of the embossing; corners lightly rounded. Back: light tan foxing, mostly around the edges and the stamp; fine surface cracking over some of the deeper embossing; a short vertical crease line at the left of the message.
ABOUT THE PRINTINGAn original chromolithograph: under magnification the color resolves into irregular hand-drawn stipple, not the regular dot screen of a modern reproduction. Textured metallic gold bell; bell, holly, Santa and scrollwork embossed.
ALSO IN OUR STOREPlease visit TF sales Intl: my family's estate collections, built over more than 60 years by knowledgeable antiques collectors and traders.
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Ref#1.0535
